What are their hopes and dreams?

This is a Tuesday Slice of Life for Two Writing Teachers. 

Check out their website for many more reflections on teaching.


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This year we will spend Veteran's Day (tomorrow) doing family conferences. 

I am looking forward to conversing with families about their children, 

hearing their feedback about the school year to date and sharing their strengths and needs. 

With 23 preschoolers to share about, 

I know I will be exhausted by tomorrow evening, and 

I suspect my voice will be hoarse.

What are families often wondering about? 

Most importantly - do I love their child? 

Yes, yes, yes, I'm head over heels already, without exception; I'm excited to share why. 

Also, I predict they'll want to know more about their child's 

friendships, 

behavior, 

favorite activities, 

math and literacy skills, and, of course, 

eating, toileting, and napping. 

I love hearing what is same and different about a child's behavior at home versus school. 

Today's a good day to share the children's own "hopes and dreams," 

which I gathered the first week or so of school. 

Funny, they aren't focused on the same things that we adults are!

I love clouds! See the clouds? I love clouds. It’s rainy outside. I can make people and you will see a person when I am done. I learned how to. Look at the tree I made. It’s a blue tree. I like this stuff. I’m going to draw my Mom and my Dad and I love my grandma, so I’m going to make my Grandma. I like everyone in my family. Even my brother! He is part of my family.

I love Mummy and the park, the slide.

I love my Mommy and I like my baby and Daddy. Look at my picture! It’s a monster. Let me draw eyes like this!

I love “A” and “B” and “I”! My name! I went to the pool yesterday. Mommy doesn’t know how to swim. This is for Mommy’s birthday. And I love flowers. The flowers make me sneeze. Painting is my favorite! I have painting at home, too. I’m makin a toy and polkadots and a circle and a marshmallow snowman with a lot of chocolate. And I like sprinkles, too! And this is teeth and this is an umbrella.

I like my Mommy and my Daddy. I love my Grandpa. I love my Daddy and my Mommy.

I love black, black, black, and I love Mommy and my brother and my sister. And, I love painting. I make a circle.

I love orange and I love Daddy and Mommy

I like going camping with Daddy. The camping isn’t finished. I just wanted Daddy, not Benjamin. He’s too little. He’s with my grandparents and he is at their house. I like helping Mommy make muffins in the morning that I can eat. Dad took me to school and I made my bed, but my bed is too wrinkly. I made a lollipop that I like.

I love Pokemon and superheroes and Spiderman. Pokemon. I can draw Pokemon. Mommy and Daddy like this. I just draw Spiderman.

I made a tree fort! And I love my Poppa.

My Mommy and my Daddy and my Daddy and my brother and my dog. And these are stars. My Mom never let me use a permanent marker! I’m making a human with marshmallows.   

I love Momma and I love my Daddy, too. I’m drawing a picture of my Mommy and I make a rainbow and I drawed a sun, the sunshine! I’m making a river, I’m making a boat. That’s my side and that’s Daddy side. I didn’t know you had markers!

I draw me! It’s a wave. I like to go to the beach and play with the sand. And these are marshmallows.

I love Batman. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, Batmaaaaan! I watched in the Lego movie, there was a Batman in the Lego movie. I’m ddrawing a spiderman shooting out a web, all kinds of webs. My Dad knows all about Spiderman and he knows a lot about Batman.

I love rain and I love clouds. I am an artist. I love flowers.

I love a circle and a candle and another circle. I’m making a cake! I’m making one for Mommy, Daddy, and brother. I love my Mommy and my Daddy.

I love engines best. I only love engines. I do like cars and I also like monsters! I am not done with my engine. I love engines.

I love a flatbed truck and car carriers and a firetruck.

My Mommy and my Daddy. I am going to draw them soon. I am drawing their eyelids. This is Daddy. He is looking at the animals and the boats. And I made this boat. I made another boat in the water.

I love Spiderman and Sandman. He’s in his truck. And I love Mommy and I love TV.    

I love purple and I love Mommy.

I’m drawing sheeplah. Black lines. Look at the elephant! Bonk. Number 6. I’m drawing number 7.

I love this! I drawed this. My hands are pink. I love pink. I love everything.    

Our hopes and dreams display, outside my classroom door.